58.0°,
Mostly Cloudy I.P. wets down new firetruck
The Island Park Fire Department’s Rescue Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 held a “wet-down” ceremony last Sunday, welcoming the department’s newest addition, a 107-foot aerial ladder truck. Company members hosed down Ladder Truck 223 at the firehouse on Long Beach Road.
Former Fire Chief Anthony D’Esposito, acting as master of ceremonies, told the gathering that the new truck was designed by a committee of Island Park fire officials and built by Ferrara Fire Apparatus Inc., in Holden, La., specifically to withstand a major storm.
D’Esposito said that this is only the fourth ladder truck in the company’s 90-year history, and reminded the crowd of about 100 that Island Park lost all of its equipment in Hurricane Sandy, more than three years ago.
“Truck 223 has no rustable surfaces, and the entire undercarriage is covered with epoxy to keep water out,” he said. “The electrical systems are built high in the chassis instead of lower to the ground, which is typical in most trucks, and the exhaust can be raised 12 feet in the air with the push of a button, allowing the truck to continue to operate in flooding conditions. It also has a battery-operated vehicle extraction system, also known as the Jaws of Life, which can be used on its own, away from the truck, to extricate people from cars.”
Island Park Mayor Michael McGinty presented current Fire Chief Edward Madden with the “key” to the new truck, which Madden in turn presented to the men and women of Company No. 1, Capt. Donny Cardineau and Lt. Jimmy Ruzicka Jr. “You are our rock and our refuge, and no one loves this village more than you,” McGinty told department members.
He noted that Ferrara Fire Apparatus had accepted the old Ladder 223, a 1992 Pierce firetruck, as a trade-in, which lowered the price of the new truck to $725,000.
Addressing the crowd, Town of Hempstead Supervisor Anthony Santino called it an auspicious day, and State Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky called the Fire Department “the beating heart of this community.” The Rev. Joseph Tutone, of Sacred Heart Church in Island Park, blessed the new truck.
